This database presents detailed information regarding all planned and completed energy storage system (ESS) installations and the companies that are involved in these projects. The extensive database of projects provides a unique datasource to analyse real activity in the energy storage market, including the requirements of the ESS in each grid interconnection location and which technologies are being deployed to provide these services. It also presents company profiles for companies active in this market and can be used to identify what companies are leading in installations in each key region.

To address rising competition in the advertising market, Google-owned YouTube is diversifying its business model by rebranding and expanding its YouTube Premium subscription service and other measures to raise revenue, while maintaining the company’s position as the world’s leading online video platform.

IHS Markit's latest report on the consumer augmented and virtual reality markets. This report adds to the coverage of last year's report with additional data and analysis related to the consumer augmented reality market opportunity and also the location-based (out of home) consumer virtual reality market.

Comcast, the largest pay TV operator in the US, is set to offer a low cost ‘streaming cable’ pay TV service. The $15 per month service, Stream, will only be available to Comcast’s internet customers as the service uses the managed-IP part of Comcast’s cable infrastructure to deliver video and not the open internet.

Home AV hardware company Onkyo has launched a digital music store, Onkyo Music, in the UK, the US, and Germany. Onkyo Music offers “hundreds of thousands” of high resolution music tracks for purchase.
The e-Onkyo music download service first launched in 2005 in Japan, and Onkyo Music is the company’s expansion of the concept. The store is a partnership with digital music specialist 7Digital, and is a download-to-own service with no streaming option. High resolution music is priced at $15-25 per album and $2-4 for single tracks, and the site allows search and download of lower-resolution CD-quality tracks as well. Onkyo is currently developing the Onkyo Music app for iOS and Android, and plans to allow files to be downloaded to multiple devices, whilst also being stored in a cloud locker.

Richard Broughton, Director of Broadband, presented at the 2014 ESCA Digital conference in London and gave an assessment of the outlook for home entertainment across Europe, analysing some of the key drivers which are shaping change in the sector.

Apple is to buy Beats Electronics for $3 billion, which is not only the largest acquisition in the Cupertino-based company’s history, but also its most high-profile strategic investment to date. The deal comes after handset competitor HTC recently sold the remaining half of its $309 million, 50.1% controlling interest of Beats back to the company for $265 million in September 2013.

Google has increased the geographic availability of its Google Play movies and music stores to 37 new markets, with the service now available in 54 countries around the world. Simultaneously, Google has officially begun to ship its Chromecast HDMI device to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and the Nordics.

Comcast and Netflix have signed a deal for ‘interconnection’. No terms of the multi-year deal have been disclosed except the companies have made it clear that the agreement has been developed over ‘many months’ and that under the deal Netflix traffic receives no preferential treatment at a network level.

WWE is set to launch an OTT network in 2014. By focusing on OTT, WWE is bypassing a traditional live linear channel on pay TV. The WWE Network is due to launch on February 24 in the US, with the UK, Canada,...

Overall Positioning
With the unveiling of Xbox One, Microsoft has put forward its vision for the evolution of its positioning of the Xbox platform as home entertainment hub, by building a hardware, software...

Adobe has announced the acquisition of video advertising solutions provider Auditude. Adobe plans to integrate Auditude's video advertising platform into its suite of analysis and optimisation tools. The...

Amazon has renewed the Kindle lineup with the some incremental upgrades to the dedicated Kindle eReaders and launch of the Kindle Fire, its first colour screen tablet in its Kindle line-up.
The company...

At the recent BUILD Windows developer event, unveiled the preview version of Windows 8 the next version of its PC operating system. Windows 8 brings with it a number of changes and enhancements, among the most notable are-the 'Metro' user interface which has been built with touchscreens in mind represents Microsoft's answer to the rise of tablets, by adding a touch-friendly environment on top of a regular windows interface. The result is that both tablets and more conventional PCs can both be served with the same OS.